![]() Observed heterozygosity, averaged across all loci within a population, decreases with distance from Florida while expected heterozygosity is mostly constant in sampled populations, indicating population genetic disequilibrium correlated with distance from the point of invasion. Patterns of genetic diversity correlate with invasion pathway. Genetic diversity, however, was not homogeneous across all sampled sites. Analyses revealed low to no spatially explicit metapopulation genetic structure, which is partly consistent with previous finding of little structure within ocean basins, but partly divergent from initial reports of between-basin structure. We report results from 12,759 single nucleotide polymorphism loci sequenced by restriction enzyme-associated DNA sequencing for nine P. volitans sampling areas in the invaded range, including Florida and other sites throughout the Caribbean, as well as mitochondrial control region D-loop data. The invasion of the Indo-Pacific lionfish, Pterois volitans, into waters off the US East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea provides a natural system to study rapid range expansion in an invasive marine fish with high dispersal capabilities. During range expansions, strong genetic drift characterized by repeated founder events can result in decreased genetic diversity with increased distance from the center of the historic range, or the point of invasion. ![]() Range expansions driven by global change and species invasions may have significant genomic, evolutionary, and ecological implications.
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